via El Enemigo Común
In response to illegal logging in their community the Indigenous Purepecha people of Cherán, Michoacán organized a defense force based on their traditional forms of self governance and defense. With their women as the catalysts, the community erected barricades, drove out illegal loggers and gangsters, seized control of abandoned police and government assets and turned to their elders for guidance. La Ronda, the community’s traditional, volunteer defense force began patrols of the town and the surrounding forests.
On the US side of the border we must remember that our people were always armed, always ready to defend their land, people and way of life. A network of autonomous communities practicing their traditional forms of self governance would constitute a true Tribal Nation. For more information on what’s happening in Cherán, Michoacán check out El Enemigo Común.
Photo: Juan Jose Estrada Serafin
Lingit Latseen 